PA Static and Sprinkles
by Michael Prower
Summary: Now every tale is told in a season, in a moment in time, with a setting. Despite that, the busy officers of Zootopia Police Department: Precinct 1 brave the daily with the feeling something wonderful is in store.
1. Overtime

_**PA Static and Sprinkles**_

 _ **Chapter 1**_

Now every tale is told in a season, in a moment in time, with a setting. While temperatures in each district of this sparkling metropolis were relegated to a certain climate, it seemed as though on this blustery Tuesday in the middle of November, even those with the thickest of fur coats found themselves with a pretty hefty jacket as their defence against the elements. Despite all this the busy officers of Zootopia Police Department: Precinct 1 braved all this as though it just another Thursday.

"ZPD Precinct 1, Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, how may I help you today? Oh, why hello ! Mmmhm. Yes, he's in his office... Of course I can transfer you!" A few clicks on the keypad and the chubby cheetah set down the receiver with a satisfying hum. "Wow, that's the third call in a row. Sure does make a receptionist hungry!" and with a small giggle, another sprinkled donut down the hatch, and a lick of the lips our fine officer reached for another delicious treat from the small pink box before the large glass front doors barged opened. Ushered in with the light howl of wind as well as a reasonable gust, another pair of familiar faces made their way to the front desk and the bubbly cheetah behind it.

"How's it goin, Sprinkles?" The resident sly of the force, Nick Wilde, called out resting his paws on the cold marble earning another giggle from the tubby Benjamin.

"Heya Nick and Judy! How're my fav crime fightin' duo?" After a well placed elbow to the ribs of a certain fox, the feisty rabbit smiled brightly, retelling the past hour of their patrols around the downtown with interjections and a few jovial remarks from her partner. As she was retelling how her counterpart had ended up tripping over a curb and then almost slipping comically on a banana peel the speakerphone from Clawhauser's desk crackled to life.

"Officer Clawhauser, where are Wilde and Hopps? I want them in my office asap!" with that the gruff voice of Chief Bogo clicked off.

"Gosh, Chief Buffalo Butt seems to be in a bad mood." Nick commented with a sardonic smile, turning towards the stairs on the far side of the open room before stopping at the sound of a light giggle from behind the counter.

"Oh no, I wouldn't worry about- wait what did you call him again? Buffalo Butt? Hah!" the cheetah paused trying and mainly failing to stifle a giggle "A-ahem. No, but seriously I wouldn't worry about Chief, working with him as long as I have you come to understand when he truly is upset and all the little inflections in between. Anyway, I'll see you too later! Oh!" quickly brandishing a donut in his sugar coated paw the officer offered the pair some donuts for the road before politely being turned down.

"Well, keep them phones running, bud!" Nick said with a wave as he walked off with Judy in tow towards the cape buffalos third story office. The cheetah only responded with a wide grin and a spin of his office chair as he shifted back to his laptop as he started to hum a happy little tune from one of his favorite Gazelle albums.

Email after email, file after file, case after case. Things never seemed to give the poor Chief of Precinct 1 a moment of peace. After meeting with his two favorite officers, Hopps and Wilde and giving them a new assignment, he dealt with the ever growing number of emails, at this point he felt as though inbox zero was something of a myth. Minutes blurred together and soon so did the words as the cape buffalo stopped to push his glasses up and rub the quickly tiring eyes behind them. Closing his eyes for a few moments he breathed a long sigh through his teeth and rested his head in his hooves. Another few minutes passed before he cracked one eye open and glanced down, eyeing the middle drawer of his desk. Sitting back and opening the drawer his eye had caught he pulled out the silver rectangle he'd been thinking of. Tapping on its screen, noticing that even after being used for only his daily runs, the music player had a fair amount of juice.

'Not that it matters anyway. I'm only doing this once, then it's back to work. Nothing more, Bogo.' He warned himself as he pulled out the small earbuds, plugging them in, soon after a few more taps the sweet upbeat melody of none other than the horned pop queen of Zootopia, Gazelle, met the ears of one very stressed police chief. Pretty soon the plucky attitude and message of the song wormed itself past all the stress, lifting the Chief's spirits and even going as far as causing his shoulders to shift and shimmy slightly along with the beat. Minutes began to fly once more, but without the sluggishness of just moments prior.

With a satisfying thud of a laptop lid closing, the broad shouldered Chief Bogo sat back with a short huff noting the job well done, and how it was within a reasonable amount of time unlike his usual camping out and working overtime. Having just sent his final email of the day, to his trusty glorified cheetah secretary containing all the general details of the day and what had to be done the next, the buffalo stood up and stretched his sore back, wincing as a few pops echoed through the small office. Grabbing all his personal items and slinging his uniform jacket over his shoulder he made his way out into the hall, nodding to the various night crew officers and employees as they were heading to their different posts where they'd be for well into the night and early morning. As the english buffalo neared the stairwell he glanced over the banister and into the main lobby of the station, noticing the reception desk still fully lit up unlike the usual desk light being the only illumination for the moose night receptionist.

 _"He can't still be here? Clawhauser is normally out of here by 6 pm. I'll have to remind him of the importance of not slacking and leaving his work to do at the last minute."_ Of course the irony of the buffaloes own thoughts were lost on him as he made his way down the remainder of the three flights of stairs.

"Officer Clawhauser?" His voice a tad louder than intended, caught the attention of the cat behind the desk who had his face buried in multiple case files scattered about his desk.

"Eep! C-chief!" Clearly scared by the sudden appearance of his boss the cheetah blushed slightly, somewhat embarrassed to have been caught playing catch up. "I-I was just uh, finishing up! A few case files had been placed on my desk…" his sad excuse for an excuse trailing off as he flicked his amber eyes to the analog clock sitting on his desk, clearly showing that it had been quite a while since everyone had gone home. "Oh...gosh. Sorry, Chief. I won't let it happen again." The cheetahs voice lowered slightly as did his ears and tail. Suddenly he felt something unexpected against his cheek, a hoof raising it up to meet another set of eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Take care of it" after a short pause the he continued, slightly softer this time, "and don't forget about yourself. I need my team working at a hundred percent" Bogo commented noticing the bags under the chubby cheetah's eyes. Then just as suddenly as it had happened, the taller of the two turned and started heading towards the front entrance putting on his jacket and raising a hand in goodbye. "Tomorrow bright and early, Clawhauser, bright and early."

And as the distance between the two increased and the night drew on only one tiny thought remained stuck in both their minds like a tiny sliver, _"What just happened?"_


	2. Morning

When the moon had taken its course and dusk passed without a hitch the day walkers of the brilliant buzzing city started to awake one by one, starting with none other than a well known Benjamin Clawhauser. Most might be surprised to find the pleasingly plump cat to be an early riser, but to him it was only second nature. Rolling himself out of his queen bed, discarding a corner of blankets to the other side as he made touch down with the floor with his sizable feet.

"Oooof! It's cold, brr" The hardwood below only made it worse as a chill ran up his spine causing him to quickly slip on a pair of overly cushy slippers as he padded his way to the adjoining bathroom within his cramped apartment, but always wanting to make the best of things the cheetah would exclaim, " _Cozy is apart of the charm!"_

After a quick shower and brush of the fur our lovely spotted friend made his way out his restroom and proceeded to finish getting ready and within in a few minutes he was already locking up his appartment and making his way to a tiny hole-in-the-wall cafe taking up the lower floor of his seven story building.

"What'll it be, Benny-boy?" The kind old elephant, Mrs. Margie, asked with the usual juvenile youth that not even old age could sap.

"Oh just the usual! One buttered croissant...and uh" The husky cat paused to take a look at his belly and chuckle to himself "And maybe a banana for the road! Gotta make sure I'm still able to see the good old walkin' paws" The two shared a giggle before Margie produced the food.

"Now you have a good day, sweetums! Oh, and say hello to Ed for me!" the good hearted woman called out over the chime of the front door as Clawhauser started his relatively short walk to the precinct. Luckily the cheetah had checked the weather and remembered to grab his cozy yet smart looking uniform jacket, and as he continued making his way further into the heart of the city he noticed the long glances and stares.

' _Geez, I know it's a nice jacket, but this seems a little ridiculous'_ Benjamin couldn't help but blush a little from all the positive attention, definitely a nice change from his high school years.

-_-_- Time break -_-_-

Having arrived so early he was able to catch up on all that had happened during the night, after giving the poor moose who normally took his position during the night the go ahead to abandon his post for much needed sleep the cheetah picked up some case files and memos and walked towards the break room. Knowing he was the only one here he began to sing quietly one of his favorite Gazelle songs, perusing over the files and even swaying his hips enough to eventually reach the handle to the break room and butt it open. This pleasant start always reminded him why waking up early made all the difference.

-_-_- Time break & POV change -_-_-

While at least one of our favorites seemed to be having a good morning, the opposite could be said about the poor Chief of Police. After being scared half to death by his alarm clock and falling out of bed in a mess of sheets and duvet, the morning looked to be the start to one of _those_ days. With no coffee beans left, and no edible food in his fridge the buffalo stopped by a small cafe owned by a pleasant elephant, and while her kindness soothed some of the rough spots for the morning, burning his tongue on the pipping hot joe certainly didn't. Truly, he shouldn't even have had to wake up as early as he did, but seeing as he got home so early last night he thought that waking up and getting a start on the day would be a good way break his overtime habit.

Arriving before anyone, not surprisingly, he made his way back up the stairs and into his office, fumbling with the keys and dropping them to the floor. To almost make matters worse as he reached down to retrieve the metal annoyance all the papers he had brought home and back almost went spilling all over the floor, but his one lucky moment arrived and fortunately he didn't. After checking in and doing the necessary preparations for the day he made his way down to the first floor break room, knowing he had time to grab another cup of coffee and eat his breakfast sandwich he had picked up.

Some time passed, and his second cup of coffee was already gone. He almost got up to get yet another when he heard singing from outside, once more he was going to get up but the opening of the door he'd been sitting behind stopped him, taking another moment to see who it was he found it was none other than Officer Clawhauser. To the english buffalo's surprise the cheetah hadn't noticed him and he continued humming a tune Bogo recognized instantly. Not wanting to scare the poor cheetah to death again like last night, the taller one stood up and silently made his way to the door opening it and closing it again as though to make it seem as if he had just come back from the restroom. However the sudden noise still made the stout cat jump a bit and whirl around. Suddenly the eye contact between the two took a different turn for the buffalo as he took a moment to study the cheetah in front of him, something was different and he couldn't quite put his hoof and what it was. Meanwhile Clawhauser was still trying to figure out why he was suddenly so self conscious, it was only his boss and fellow Gazelle fan, normally he would've giggled and made some sort of comment about how much of a fan he was but for once the portly cheetah couldn't think of anything and noticed how intently the Chief was looking at him. Coughing slightly and glancing away, which again was weird for the bubbly cat, he decided to break the silence.

"Ahem! Oh em goodness...I didn't expect anyone but the night crew here, it's good to see you Chief" And with that he found himself right back in his usual grove, his sudden stupor ending but not without an underlying feeling of nervousness even an unexpected giddyness.

"Oh! Yes, morning to you too Clawhauser." The buffalo said a bit fast as he too broke out of whatever trance he had been in. Clawhauser could swear he saw a very faint dusting of pink on his superiors cheeks but dismissed the notion as simply being the cold air from outside.

Another few moments passed as the two turned away to get back to why they had originally come in here to do, letting a semi-comfortable-silence settle between them. "Well, I better head up to my office, I'll see you in an hour for the usual staff meetings." The buffalo huffed out, packing up his breakfast and heading towards the door making it halfway out before turning back and making eye contact with the soft cheetah once more. "Oh and Clawhauser, I like your glasses. They suit you." And with that he left leaving a slightly flabbergasted cheetah to subconsciously blush and bring a hand to touch the metal frames he didn't even know he had on.

 _AN: Heya everyone! Thanks so much for the initial support on yesterdays chapter, honestly I felt so inspired I decided to work on another chapter. Feeling super proud right now, guys!_

 _Stay lovely my lovelies~!_

 _MAP_


	3. BORED Meetings

If there was anything anyone could agree on it would be that meetings are boring. To sit in a room with a bunch of other mammals just as equally bored and with a presentation that practically forced the eyes of all present to glaze over, even lulling the speaker into a trance of sorts.

 ***BUZZ BUZZ*** A phone vibrated yet no one but the large horned owner noticed, despite the room's atmosphere of dreary quietness. Slipping the phone out of his pocket, Chief Bogo set the sleek device on the large oak conference table and tapped the device making sure it wouldn't vibrate as harshlye. Then after moving it to be hidden while sitting next to his leather portfolio and notepad the buffalo took a quick glance around at the other members trapped in the same hell as he was in. As his eyes scanned over each of the faces of those present, all but bored and listless eyes looking off in various directions of their own personal space met his gaze; all but one pair, concentrating _hard_ on the copy of the slides in front of him. Quirking an eyebrow, suddenly the set of eyes across from him made the fatal mistake of looking up and catching the quizzical gaze of the Chief. The amber eyes grew large for a moment as the cat tried to keep the widest grin off his face and focus himself back on the speaker, taking another quick glance out of the corner of his eyes to look at Bogo and then the phone in between the buffalos notepad and folder. Curious the Chief tapped a few times to wake the screen and spied a notification from none other than Benjamin Clawhauser. A few more taps, with pauses in between so as though not to draw attention to himself, the taller mammal opened his messages.

"' _ **Ello, Govnr'!"**_ the text read, attached was a picture of the chubby cheetah photoshopped on one of Gazelle's tigers. Trying to keep his composure, the Chief shot a deadpan look towards the barely contained cheetah, but as hard as the chief tried he couldn't keep himself from cracking a small smile as he looked back down and typed out a short reply.

" _ **Terrible joke. Focus, Clawhauser."**_ and with another tap the light hearted warning was shot off, and a moment later the cheetah was rooting in his shirt pocket to retrieve his respective cellular device which just finished it series of buzzing.

" _ **Haha, I had to try riiight?"**_

" _ **Trust me you didn't."**_ That text granted a pouty face from the hefty cat.

" _ **Whatever, Chief Buffalo Butt"**_ The nickname caught the certain 'buffalo butt' off guard causing him to meet the pervious pouty face across from him, the same one now struggling once more to keep from bursting out in adorable giggles.

' _Adorable? Whe-'_ The english chief shook his head slightly before typing out his reply, " _ **I see you've be consorting with Wilde again"**_ A smiling emoticon with a halo was the only answer the cheetah would give.

" _ **Hey, pass me another donut! Plleeeeaseee~?"**_ The cheery Benjamin looked up after hearing the faint buzz from the Chief's phone. After narrowing his eyes at the cheeky cheetah he silently sighed, making sure to over exaggerate it before reaching for a pink frosted donut from the box behind him and then sliding it over to the chubby one on a napkin. As the hoof finished its desired course and the spotted paw rested itself on the napkin a voice caused the both to look up wide eyed to the other.

"And that concludes my presentation of the recent district trends of crime and population density as of this quarter. Chief Bogo, would you like to add anything else?" The middle aged lynx asked causing both of them to turn and face him, their hands still on either side of the napkin with donut in the middle. Quickly retracting his hoof the buffalo collected his notes, shuffled them in a neat pile and stood up.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat, breaking everyone else out of their trance except for one fruity cheetah as he guiltily looked away trying to contain a giggle as he took a large bite of donut and coughed, diffusing the giggle. "Uh, no I believe that'll be all. Thank you, Officer Lexington. Meeting adjourned, see you all next week." Having recovered his composure in record time, the buffalo set his notes down and began to shake the hands of the officers around him as they exited. Within a few minutes everyone had left, except for a certain chief of police and a sprinkle covered cheetah. The latter stood, tail swishing back in forth in mirth as he took another donut and turned on the ball of his foot. Suddenly overtaken with a slyness that only the token fox Nick could match, the buffalo snatched a napkin, crumpled it up and tossed it at the cheetah. "Better watch yourself, _Clawhauser"_ The taller one said as the other turned around and grinned widely.

"You know you love me~!" The singsong voice of Benjamin Clawhauser exclaimed as he turned back around and walked out the door but not before keeping his head poked around the corner of the door frame, the giant grin still on his face.

"Go!" The buffalo said feining annoyance and pointing diagonally before him. As the tubby cat disappeared from sight with another giggle, the gruff buffalo was left to ponder the cheetahs last words, oblivious to the faint blush still on his face.


	4. Gottcha!

As noon rolled around the lunch rush hit nowhere harder than at Zootopia's very own precinct 1. Almost like clockwork officers and employees alike turned to either their bottom desk draw to pull out food, or to the vending machine in the various breakrooms, and in one especially interesting case, to their co workers to see if they wanted to go hit the town for a change.

"Chief Bogo? I'm heading out to lunch" The PA crackled to life with the cheerful voice of Officer Clawhauser.

"Alright. Be back in an hour, I want to go over some notes with you about changing some schedules around." The gruff buffalo responded, releasing the intercom button when he finished and returning to his laptop. As he continued to tap around, moving things here and there and filling out various forms of unnecessary paperwork, he knew that lunch wasn't going to be an option today.

-_-_- POV change -_-_-

"Alright. Be back in an hour, I want to go over some notes with you about changing some schedules around." The gruff and clearly stressed buffalo's tone was certainly not lost on the keenly perceptive receptionist of a cheetah. Taking a moment to ponder, his face scrunched in a clear showing of concentration, the chubby cat hadn't noticed Zootopia best pair watching him closely, a mischievous gleam in their eyes.

"Heeeya, Bennji, how's it hanging? Heading to lunch?" Officer Nick Wilde said popping up and resting his elbows on the marble, just like yesterday.

"Yeah, heya Clawhauser! Seems like you're going by yourself; that's really no fun, is it?" The bunny next to Nick commented offhandedly, casting a very familiar sly look towards the cheetah. The sudden appearances of his fellow co workers surprised the fat cat causing him to jerk his head up from its perch on his hands and elbows.

"Oh! Hey guys! Geez, I just had the weirdest case of deja vu." Shaking his head, his cute cheeks bouncing a little, "Anyways, um yeah I guess I am going out alone." His eyes looked down for a moment before lighting up slightly, "Hey! Why don't we all go together!" Unbeknownst to him, a low highfive was exchanged between the two in front of him.

-_-_- Time break -_-_-

Pretty soon the trio the had reached a small tofu burger joint outside of the main heart of the city, despite it only being about a 15 minute drive from the station.

"Wow! What a cool place!" The cheetah commented as he entered, walking in front of the pair behind him, "You and Nick must come here a lot like on dates or something" He giggled seeing their eyes grow wide and faces heat up.

"S-sorry to disappoint Clawhauser, but we're not together." Judy said clearly not expecting the comment considering she and her partner had come here to find out more about the potential between a certain fruity receptionist and a too-hard-on-himself-for-his-own-good chief of police.

"Yeah, I mean Carrots is sweet and all, but not my cup of tea by far" The fox said, a little too quickly, all while looking up and in the complete opposite direction of his partner not seeing her momentary confusion and flash of poutiness.

"Mmm, yeah sure." The cheetah commented rolling his eyes and giggling once more, "Well, I'm starved, let's get somethin' to chow down on!"

-_-_- Time break -_-_-

When all three mammals had gotten their fill, the two smaller ones shared one more knowing look before their eyes gleamed again with mischief.

"So…" The fox started off, "How long have you know our good ol' chief?"

"Oh, quite a few years now. He was the one who really wanted me on the force, despite all the obvious disqualifications" The cheetah giggled, patting his belly. "But no, it was about four years ago, right after the old chief had retired and Chief Bogo had been instated. I was just outta college and had been working the financial aid desk, I actually applied by accident" he giggled once more, pausing to take a sip of his drink before continuing, "One of my old buddies and I we're going to apply to continue working at University of Zootopia till we could get our own places, and because UOZ was a public service application, it was exactly the same as ZPD! After all the interviews and stuff I was sure I wouldn't get the job, but here I am!"

"Wow! Well we wouldn't want anyone else" Judy commented pleasantly before turning to whisper in her partners ear, "and we both know the same goes for the Chief" she finished off with a nudge before leaning back, surprised that the cheetah hadn't seemed suspicious. "Well, what do you think of the chief?" She continued, trying to seem as casual as possible.

"Oh gosh, the lists I could write! Well, he's really a good guy, I mean you've gotta be to be the chief, right? He's always standing up for others, oh! Like when Mayor Bellwether had me moved down to records! You should have seen the fuss he made!" He took another pause and sip before he continued his oblivious gushing, "Oh, Oh! And he does this thing when drinking coffee, it's seriously so funny!" For the next ten or so minutes the cheetah went on before Wilde cut him off.

"Wow, you sure seem to like the Chief"

"Yeah! He's totally the best!" Clawhauser giggled, oblivious to the underlying meaning.

"Kinda makes you wonder how he's still single after all this time." Judy continued right where her partner left off, seeming truly awestruck and aghast for an answer, almost like they had planned it. Her foxy other half concurred,

"Geez! That is a brain scratcher!"

"Yeah… It is…" The cheetah commented, slowly being carried off by his own train of thought as a faint blush took over his big cheeks.

" _Gottcha!" The pair whispered to each other as they shared another down low high five._


End file.
